The Lure of Open Source Software: Why Consider It for Your Business?

Why should you bother with looking at open source software? Isn't it safer to stick with Microsoft and the other big corporate software designers? David Chisnall helps us to distinguish between proprietary (sometimes referred to as "predatory") software and its open source counterparts.

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What Is Open Source?

The open source movement began as an offshoot of the free
software movement, aimed at making free software more appealing to
commercial interests. The problem is that the English language overloads the
term free with two very different meanings, referring to freedom and to
cost. Members of the free software movement commonly distinguish between these
two meanings by referring to free software as "free as in speech," and
not "free as in beer."

The general perception of free and open source software (FOSS) comes
from a few high-profile projects, such as Linux. They are perceived as being
written by hobbyists working for free, and to cost nothing. But neither of these
perceptions is either required or implied by either the free software or open
source definition.

For software to be classed as free software, the user must be able
to do all of the following:

Run the software. This right is obviously a necessity for
any software to be useful.

Modify the software. Less obvious, but equally essential.
Much commercial software grants this right to a limited extent; for example,
Microsoft Office can be extended by using VBA. The difference with FOSS is that
the customer, not the supplier, determines the permitted extent of the
modifications.

Redistribute the software and modifications to the
software. Important from a cost perspective. If you can't
distribute your modifications, other people can't benefit from them. More
importantly, you can't benefit from their modifications. If two customers
need the same feature, they have two choices: both can add the feature
(duplicating effort), or both can wait for the supplier to add the feature, and
then both can pay to upgrade.

Open source software grants similar although less concisely defined
rights. (The difference is the motivation for the software, rather than the
rights themselves. In general, the terms open source software and
free software can be used interchangeably.)

Note that these rights apply only to the customer, not to the world at large.
If a company commissions custom software and has all of these rights assigned to
that software, it's qualified as FOSS, even though the software may not be
distributed.